Sunday, 29 August 2010

While you are doing whatever you are doing this lazy Sunday (I'm watching The Dish Presents: Weddings Gone Wild and drinking a Mountain Dew) three women are on a flight somewhere where I'm pretty sure Dew and the Dish don't exist. No neon yellow pop or trash tv round-ups? Why would someone go to such a place?

Siân, Josie and Eva are travelling to Bangladesh with Save the Children Fund to highlight the work they are doing in line with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Every year almost 9 million children under the age of five die. These three women will be tweeting, creating video and photo galleries and writing about their experiences in Bangladesh live and direct.

In Bangladesh, 36% of the population live on less than US$1 (64p) a day and 83% live on less than US$2 (£1.28) a day. Extremely poor households are often dependent on income from their young children and around 7.4 million children are engaged in child labor.

Almost 50% of Bangladeshi children under five years old are underweight or too small for their age. Approximately 2.4 million children aged 6-10, are not enrolled in primary school and the number of street children is estimated to be over 7, 00,000.

Every year around 250,000 children die in Bangladesh before reaching their fifth birthday. They die from things that can be easily prevented or treated like diarrhea, pneumonia and infections and from lack of proper maternity care.

What can we do to help? Make as much noise as possible. Follow these bloggers on their journey, watch their videos and re-tweet their story. You can follow Siân, Josie and Eva on twitter and RT using the #Blogladesh hashtag, because awareness is half the battle.

While I sitting here drinking my Dew and watching football (NotBlondeHusband has come home since I've started) and Blondie Boy is upstairs snug in his bed with his belly full and sleeping soundly, these women are on their way to experience a diametrically opposite situation.

So please read their stories, share their experiences, make some noise and help make a difference.

Saturday, 28 August 2010

I love flip flops. LOVE them. The Scottish weather doesn't exactly lend itself to my favorite footwear, but believe you me I let my tootsies breathe in every chance I get while I can.

For the past two weeks, come rain or shine (it's still sorta warm) I've been rocking my new Fit-Flops. Fit Flop footwear is biomechanically engineered to help tone and tighten your leg muscles while you walk in them. Normal walking in Fit Flops can help:

- help increase leg and bottom muscle activity (up to 30%). (so you feel less ache in your hips and knees),

- absorb more shock than a normal shoe (up to 22%),

- help realign ground force reaction closer to your joints

I was a bit worried that they'd make my legs or feet sore, but seriously these are possibly the most comfortable shoes I own. I've been wearing them to the grocery, the shops and when I take Blondie Boy on walks. I have no idea if they are working my legs and bum out more, but I certainly am making more of an effort to go out on walks with Blondie Boy.

You can get other styles besides flip flops, like embellished sandals, shoes, clogs and how cute are these boots for winter? Definitely more practical for Glaswegian weather that is for sure!

Fit Flops are available worldwide and online, so if you are looking for a helping hand to get in shape that is comfy too check them out!

Thursday, 26 August 2010

We had 22 entries to the Hipp Organic Giveaway, so we decided to write out the entries and let Blondie Boy pick the winner. Just so y'all know I do check-up and see if you actually are following, tweeting and disqualify any entries which can't be verified. We don't tolerate shenanigans in the Blondie household!

Without further ado the winner is.....

Video filmed on a Kodak Zi8.

Congratulations! Please be in touch within 48 hours or another winner will be drawn.

Congratulations and for those who didn't win Hipp Organic goodies are available for online and in most large grocery stores and pharmacies.

Tuesday, 24 August 2010

I'm going to try something a bit different and hopefully if works, but maybe it won't. I'd like y'all to read Donna Harraway's "A Cyborg Manifesto" and then write a post about how it relates to you, your thoughts on the article or anything else relating back to the piece.

Since I'm sorta giving y'all homework, I'm going to give you two weeks to read and write. As always I'm happy to discuss any ideas with you before the post goes live on September 3rd.

The Friday Feminist Mom Roundup

Here's how it works. Write a blog about being a feminist mom, raising a feminist child, a rant or anything that falls under the realm of being a feminist mom. Come back and link your post and post the button on your blog.

That's it.

You don't even have to be a blogger to take part - just send me your post and I will publish it on my blog for you. You don't even have to include your name if you prefer.

When you've published it, come back on Friday and via a widget thing you can add a link to your post and share it with everyone. The link remains open for 5 days.

Visit others, comment if you like them or feel inspired by them. Just go out and encourage and support other feminist Moms.

The more support you give, the more you will get back! I can't wait to meet and interact with other feminist moms around the world!

Friday, 20 August 2010

Words are some of the most powerful weapons we have, but their misappropriation can be just as damaging. One of things that pisses me off the most is the misappropriation and misuse of the word "rape."

I'm pretty sure I don't need to go into a feminist analysis of rape and start quoting MacKinnon or Dworkin for us all to agree that rape is a horrible crime. We don't need to discuss radical vs liberal views on why it happens; it happens and it shouldn't, ever.

What pisses me off is when people take "rape" a word used to describe one of the most hateful and damaging crimes and use it to describe something completely inappropriate.

"Hey man, did you see the game last night? The Bengals totally got raped."

Really? The entire Cincinnati football team was forced against their will to have sex? Verizon sold you a crappy phone and then you were taken into the back for non-consensual sex? Oh that didn't happen? You mean the Bengals just lost by a large margin and you over-payed for a piece of crap phone? You didn't actually mean rape at all? I didn't think so.

When you take a word which describes a despicable act and use it so casually to describe mundane and normal things, you strip the word of it's power. When you use that word so nonchalantly it normalizes the event it is meant to describe. When you use "rape" without even thinking about it you marginalize the millions of men and women who have been raped.

I know most people don't think before they speak; they don't mean to normalize and minimize the experiences of those who have been raped, but they are. When you take something that should never happen and use it to describe normal events you are trivializing what rape is.

So what's the point of my rant? Think before you speak. Choose your words carefully and make sure they mean what you are really trying to convey.

WORDS

Here's how it works. Write a blog post about being a feminist mom, raising a feminist child, a rant or anything that falls under the realm of being a feminist mom based or the theme for the week. Come back and link your post and post the button on your blog.

That's it.

You don't even have to be a blogger to take part - just send me your post and I will publish it on my blog for you. You don't even have to include your name if you prefer.

When you've published it, come back on Friday and via a widget thing you can add a link to your post and share it with everyone. The link remains open for 5 days.

Visit others, comment if you like them or feel inspired by them. Just go out and encourage and support other feminist Moms.

The more support you give, the more you will get back! I can't wait to meet and interact with other feminist moms around the world!

Wednesday, 18 August 2010

I've mentioned it before, but Blondie freaking *LOVES* rice cereal. To be specific he loves Hipp Organic Rice Cereal. The kid would lick the bowl clean if I let him and dive bombs the spoon when we give it to him.

So when I got the chance to review more Hipp Organic products I jumped at the chance. I'm really picky about what Blondie Boy eats and I prefer that everything is organic and contains minimal ingredients. Hipp products totally fit the bill.

He liked eating them when I broke them up in little pieces, but he equally enjoyed holding a whole rice cake and mashing it with his gums. The latter method was a bit messy and not a lot was ingested, but I'm guessing it felt nice on his gums.

Being the good Mom that I am, I tasted a rice cake myself and umm YUM! I love Cinnamon-Apple Rice Cakes (which you get in the US, but not the UK) and these were just as tasty, but with natural and healthy organic ingredients. The rice cakes also come in Tomato and Red Pepper and Carrot and Pumpkin flavors.

We've got lots of other Hipp Organic goodies to try out with Blondie Boy is older and I can't wait!

The lovely people at Hipp Organic are going to give one of you the chance to try some of their yummy rice cakes yourself!

To enter:

Comment on your favorite finger food and to who'd get to try the rice cakes!

Monday, 16 August 2010

Interpret the theme however you like. If you are struggling or not sure what to say, feel free to get in touch and we can talk it out. Start thinking and spread the word!

The Friday Feminist Mom Roundup

Here's how it works. Write a blog about being a feminist mom, raising a feminist child, a rant or anything that falls under the realm of being a feminist mom. Come back and link your post and post the button on your blog.

That's it.

You don't even have to be a blogger to take part - just send me your post and I will publish it on my blog for you. You don't even have to include your name if you prefer.

When you've published it, come back on Friday and via a widget thing you can add a link to your post and share it with everyone. The link remains open for 5 days.

Visit others, comment if you like them or feel inspired by them. Just go out and encourage and support other feminist Moms.

The more support you give, the more you will get back! I can't wait to meet and interact with other feminist moms around the world!

Friday, 13 August 2010

That's Blondie Boy sandwiched between two vintage photos of myself as a bebe and what do you know it looks like we are wearing very similar outfits! Oh the shock and the horror! "But you're a girl baby and he's a boy baby" you say. No shit sherlock. Who's to say girls can't like baseball?

Again, I've gone the easy route this week, but when my Mom emailed these pictures I couldn't resist. I promise proper feminist rants in the future :)

The theme for this week is fashion and I can't wait to read everyone's take on it. Please feel free to comment (even if you don't post) and leave an idea for next week's prompt/theme.

FASHION

Here's how it works. Write a blog about being a feminist mom, raising a feminist child, a rant or anything that falls under the realm of being a feminist mom. Come back and link your post and post the button on your blog.

That's it.

You don't even have to be a blogger to take part - just send me your post and I will publish it on my blog for you. You don't even have to include your name if you prefer.

When you've published it, come back on Friday and via a widget thing you can add a link to your post and share it with everyone. The link remains open for 5 days.

Visit others, comment if you like them or feel inspired by them. Just go out and encourage and support other feminist Moms.

The more support you give, the more you will get back! I can't wait to meet and interact with other feminist moms around the world!

Thursday, 12 August 2010

Do you know Sare? Sare is one of my favorite e-mamas friends,we had a great time meeting up this summer at the Cincinnati zoo this summer, and she's hosting a challenge over at her blog Falling for Baby.

*The 30 day blog challenge is not about blogging every day for 30 days. Realistically that's just setting you up for failure. Life happens, and not every day can we sit down and pour our minds out on a keyboard.

For six weeks straight, aim to write a new blog post five times a week. That could mean one blog post every weekday Monday through Friday, or just five random days throughout the week that work best for you.

Add your name to the linky below and follow along with other bloggers that are taking the challenge.

Post the 30 Day Blog Challenge badge at the end of your blog posts and in your side bar so more people can learn about the challenge and follow along.

If you are having a hard time thinking of topics to blog about, there are many other blogs out there that have weekly check-ins that may interest you. Psst, Feminist Friday would be a super easy one :)

There is a linky on Sare's blog that will be open from August 9 - September 17 and you can join any time.

Don't forget to visit the other bloggers taking part in the challenge!

Tuesday, 10 August 2010

Here's how it works. Write a blog about being a feminist mom, raising a feminist child, a rant or anything that falls under the realm of being a feminist mom. Come back and link your post and post the button on your blog.

That's it.

You don't even have to be a blogger to take part - just send me your post and I will publish it on my blog for you. You don't even have to include your name if you prefer.

When you've published it, come back on Friday and via a widget thing you can add a link to your post and share it with everyone. The link remains open for 5 days.

Visit others, comment if you like them or feel inspired by them. Just go out and encourage and support other feminist Moms.

The more support you give, the more you will get back! I can't wait to meet and interact with other feminist moms around the world!

Friday, 6 August 2010

Why is everything for girls pink and for boys blue? Granted Blondie Boy's blue eyes pop in blue, but he looks equally dashing in pink. I have heard of several fathers who refuse to let their sons have anything pink. Umm, why?

Did you know that back in the day pink was for boys and blue was for girls? Pink was a "strong" color and blue a "dainty" one. At some point obviously this norms flip-flopped, but who says either colour has to represent just one sex? Who says anything has to be solely for one sex?

Blondie Boy has a t-shirt that says "Tough Enough to Wear Pink" and I freaking love it. I've put a pink bandana on him before, too. I don't think babies should conform to culturally enforced gender norms, they should just be babies.

In addition to linking up your post this week I'd love it if y'all left suggestions for future Link-up themes and prompts. These can just be topics, recent news stories or anything you'd like to see written about and I will theme/prompt next week's link-up.

PS- I apologize for such a weak post, but Blondie Boy is on a nap strike and I didn't have it in me to pull out the big guns! I had visions of clickable source links and beautiful metaphors, but it's just not in me tonight :)

Here's how it works. Write a blog about being a feminist mom, raising a feminist child, a rant or anything that falls under the realm of being a feminist mom. Come back and link your post and post the button on your blog.

That's it.

You don't even have to be a blogger to take part - just send me your post and I will publish it on my blog for you. You don't even have to include your name if you prefer.

When you've published it, come back on Friday and via a widget thing you can add a link to your post and share it with everyone. The link remains open for 5 days.

Visit others, comment if you like them or feel inspired by them. Just go out and encourage and support other feminist Moms.

The more support you give, the more you will get back! I can't wait to meet and interact with other feminist moms around the world!

Thursday, 5 August 2010

Age - seven months(a little thing called America means I haven't done this since 4 months-WHOOPS!)

Weight - 17lbs 12oz

Height - 27 1/2"

Sleeping habits - He sleeps in his own room and we are working on getting him an earlier bedtime of around 10ish. No matter what he pretty much wakes up at 9am on the dot.

Eating habits - Eating 8oz 4 times a day, rice and a fruit or yogurt for breakfast and two veggies for dinner. Also trying out rice cakes, spelt biscuits, puffs and other goodies! Basically we are on to Stage 2, or chunkier puree or stuff he can mash with his gums.

Milestones - There are a lot since I'm behind 2 months. He can sit up on his own unaided, take steps if you hold his hands, turns pages in his books, rolls this way and that way to get where he wants to go and I'm probably forgetting tons of things. Oh, he gives kisses on demand :)

Firsts- time on an airplane, sitting in a highchair, going to America (Ohio, Kentucky & California), seeing the Pacific ocean, meeting his Auntie Alie, meeting his GG Bess, GG Jane and Great Grandpa Lee as well as a host of other relatives, first baseball game, first overnight alone with Dad, first finger foods and probably tons of other stuff I'm forgetting!

Tuesday, 3 August 2010

When I was asked if I'd like to try Jackson Reece Herbal Baby Wipes, I was really excited since Blondie Boy has eczema (I'll eventually get around to finishing the draft post I have on that) and really sensitive skin. I prefer to use the most natural things possible and well water and cotton balls don't cut it with this boy anymore!

The wipes are biodegradable, chlorine free and 99% of the ingredients are derived from vegetable or plant extracts like certified organic tea tree, aloe vera and lavender. I loved that there are no harsh chemicals, perfumes or potential irritants and was ready to test them out.

The wipes feel and smell lovely. I find some wipes are overly perfumed or too thin, but these smelled fresh and natural and got the job done. The only problem I had was that sometimes the wipes stuck together making it difficult to pull them apart when getting them out of the package if you had your hands busy.

Blondie Boy's bum has been rash and red free and had had no reactions to the wipes. If you are looking for an organic, all natural wipe that is environmentally friendly, this is definitely the product for you! The 72 wipe pack retails for £1.99, so it won't hurt your wallet, either.

Sunday, 1 August 2010

We've been down visiting my mother-in-law on the coast this weekend and today it was dry and sunny, so we decided to take Blondie Boy on a walk down South Beach. I've been to Barrassie Beach loads of times (it's a block from MIL's house), but in my 6 years here I'd never actually been to South Beach at all!

Blondie Boy was passed out for the majority of the walk, but woke up in time to get a wee walk down to see the water. It was a great day!